How to turn a Radish to a Carrot

So, how do you turn a Radish to a Carrot? Well, you dip it in curry! *bleh*

My son loves Japanese Curry and since we haven't had that for a long time (it meant my hubby had not went away for business trip for a while too), I thought I'll just cook that. I came out with this silly riddle to ask my son. Guess what he said. "You didn't make the Radish long enough lah. Don't look like Radish cannot guess." *duh*

After he took a bite, he told me, his carrot (he had dipped it in his curry) had turned into an egg. I was a little confused till he said, "See, that's egg yolk I'm eating!" Hahaha! He was referring to the meat ball I stuffed inside the 'Radish-Carrot'. Wah, that gives me another idea for his next meal! Great!

In case you are wondering what the Radish was, it was meat ball, which was a combination of minced pork, fish paste and chopped Broccoli, shaped into a ball, stuffed into a rice ball and topped with blanched Broccoli. The curry was cooked from instant Japanese Curry Mix with Carrot, Potatoes and Onions.

It was a simple but a full of surprises meal. We had fun!

* Radish turned Carrot *

* Hidden Treasure or is it Egg Yolk? *

Lettuce wrapped Chicken with Ginger Sauce

I have plenty of chicken left from my Hainanese Chicken Rice. Eating another plate of rice will be too much for us, so we just ate the Chicken with Ginger Sauce wrapped with Lettuce.

Anyone who has been to Soup Restaurant and tried their Samsui Chicken would be very familiar with this.

Just put a piece of chicken on a lettuce. Top it with some Ginger Sauce and wrapped it up. Then send it to your mouth! Yummy!

* the Essentials - Lettuce and Ginger Sauce *

Ingredients:

• Ginger
• Sesame Seed Oil
• Salt to taste

How to do it:

1. Blend ginger till very fine.
2. Add salt to taste and sesame seed oil.
3. Mix well.

Hainanese Chicken Rice 海南鸡飯

I always view from local TV programmes with foreign visitors saying that eating Singapore Hainanese Chicken Rice  (海南鸡飯) is a must when they visit Singapore. I really had no idea why. Singapore being a Food (and Shopping) Paradise had plenty of other dishes to offer. Check out Singapore Food Festival 2007 which is on from 29 June to 31 July 2007.

To my foreign readers ... if you do love this dish, you can do it on your own. Next time, when you visit Singapore, do try other dishes, okay?

Ingredients for Chicken:

• 1 Chicken, preferably Kampong Chicken
• 8 clove Garlic, lightly smashed with skin intact
• 5 slices Ginger
• 1 - 2 teaspoon Salt
• Water

How to do it:

1. Stuff garlic and ginger in chicken and seal with toothpick.
2. Blanch chicken.
3. Boil a pot of water and add salt.
4. Simmer the chicken for about 20 - 25 minutes or till cooked.
5. Retain broth for use on rice, chilli sauce and soup.
6. Plunge chicken in ice water for about 15 minutes or till chicken is no longer hot.
7. Remove from water and drip dry.
8. Cut chicken into pieces.

Ingredients for Rice:

• 3 cup Long Grain Rice,
• Broth from cooking chicken
• 4 slices Ginger
• 5 glove Garlic, lightly smashed with skin intact
• 8 Pandan leaves, tied in a knot
• Salt to taste

How to do it:

1. In a wok, add 2 teaspoon oil, preferably oil from frying chicken skin or the congealed fats you get when you refrigerate your chicken broth. Otherwise, vegetable oil is fine.
2. Saute ginger and garlic till fragrant.
3. Add in washed rice and saute till rice is coated well with the oil.
4. Add salt to taste (about 1 teaspoon is enough).
5. Stir to mix well.
6. Pour rice with ginger and garlic to your rice cooker.
7. Add in broth from chicken you cooked earlier instead of your usual water.
8. Add in the pandan leaves.
9. Let your rice cooker do the cooking. ;)

A bowl of soup is always served with a plate of Chicken Rice. Just in case, you get choked for eating too fast. Hehehe ...

To make broth more tasty, return the bones from the chicken to broth and continue simmering for another hour. Retain 5 tablespoon of the broth for the Chilli Sauce.

Add salt to taste. Add some shredded lettuce in a bowl and pour soup over it. Serve with the Chicken Rice.



How can you eat Chicken Rice without the Chicken Rice Chilli?!! You are missing one of the essences of eating Chicken Rice! Well, unless you are like me. I'm one of the rare breed of Singaporeans who can't take spicy food. Then again, I do still take some, followed by plenty of water.

Ingredients:

• 3 Chillies, top and seeds removed
• 1 slice Ginger
• 4 glove Garlic, skin removed
• Juice of 3 limes
• 5 tablespoon of chicken broth

How to do it:

1. Blend all ingredients together, till smooth.
2. That's all!

Note:

• Add more chilli if you prefer it to be more spicy.
• Add less broth if you prefer it to be thicker.

Check out my next post on my Ginger Sauce.
Click HERE for the Roasted version of the Chicken Rice (烧鸡饭).

Chicken Feet with Peanut Soup 鸡脚花生汤

My kids love this soup. Maybe they just love any soup. My hubby said my peanut soup is not as 'nutty' compared to his mum's, which was a good thing because he didn't like it. I think when he said 'nutty', he meant the soup was very cloudy. Perhaps, the peanuts used were different type and they must have been broken into bits. Mine was soft but still visible.

Ingredient:

• 10 Chicken Feet
• 2 whole chicken bones or 1 liter Chicken Broth
• 1200ml water if not using broth
• 5 Red Dates, pitted
• 100g Raw Peanuts
• Salt to taste

How to do it:

1. Blanch chicken feet and bones.
2. Put all ingredients except salt in a pot of water.
3. Bring to boil then lower fire and simmer for another 3 hours.
4. Add salt to taste.
5. Serve.
   

Prawns and Green Mango Salad

I couldn't resist buying the really fresh Basil I saw in the market and bought home a bunch. They were selling live prawns too so I bought 250g of them. I went back and dug my fridge for other ingredients to make this salad. I find it's quite nice.

I asked my guinea pig husband to try it and he went silent. It turned out he was just silently enjoying it. *snigger*

Ingredients:
1 serving only

• 2 - 3 Lettuce Leaves, shredded
• 1/2 Green Mango, shredded
• 1 sprig Coriander aka Cilantro, chopped in sections
• 25 Basil Leaves
• 2 shallot, sliced thinly
• 6 Prawns
• 1/2 cup chopped Peanuts and Sesame Seed

Dressing:

• Juice of 4 Limes
• 1 tablespoon Fish Sauce
• 1 tablespoon Fine Sugar
• 1/2 tablespoon Sesame Seed Oil

How to do it:

1. Mix ingredients for dressing till sugar melts and set aside.
2. Blanch prawns till 90% cooked but 100% cooked if not using live prawns.
3. Shell the prawns and sliced it into half.
4. Set aside.
5. In a bowl, put in the lettuce, basil, coriander, shallot, mango and prawns.
6. Pour in the dressing and scatter peanuts and sesame seeds over.
7. Serve immediately.

Note:

• Add 2 cut chili padi to have a spicy taste.
• If you prefer the dressing to be more sour, reduce sugar or add in more lime juice.
• Nice to have this salad a bit chilled.
• Pour in the dressing only just before serving.
  

* Lovely Fresh Basil *

Shark's Fin Melon Soup 鱼翅瓜羹

My son calls this noodle's soup because when the melon is cooked, it will crumbles into long, translucent, noodle-like threads. My son said those are glass noodles. I think it's suppose to look like Shark's fin that's why it got that name.

I cook this melon in 2 ways. One of them is clear melon soup which is what my son prefers. The other is the thick soup - 羹 (picture above) so it really looks like you are have Shark's Fin Soup! Whichever way it's cooked, it taste as nice!

Ingredients:

• 1/3 Shark's Fin Melon, skin and seeds removed and cut into smaller pieces
• 250g Pork Ribs or 1 liter broth
• 1200ml water if not using broth.
• 1 handful Wolfberries
• 8 Red Dates, pitted
• Salt to taste

How to do it:

1. Blanch pork ribs.
2. Boil ribs, melon, wolfberries, red dates in a pot of water.
3. Reduce heat when it starts to boil.
4. Simmer for another 3 hours.
5. Add salt to taste.
6. Serve hot

Alternative for Thick Soup (羹):

Additional Ingredients:

• 2 egg whites or 1 egg, beaten
• 1/2 cup cornflour mixture
• 4 - 5 dried scallops, steamed and shredded (optional)

How to do it:

1. Add scallops during the last hour of simmering since it's already steamed.
2. After adding salt to taste, thicken soup with cornflour mixture to desire thickness.
3. Let the soup continue to simmer.
4. Gradually add in egg while slowly stirring.
5. Serve hot.

Notes:

• You can add in shredded carrots during last hour of simmering to give the soup extra colour and texture.
• If you like, you can also add dried scallops for the clear soup
• I do not add in Wolfberries when I make thick soup (羹).
• Add a bit of black vinegar to the thick soup, just like you are having Shark's Fin Soup. Gives you another different taste. Try it!

* Translucent, glass noodle-like threads *

* Shark's Fin Melon *

Simple Triangle Rice Balls

Lately I have been very feeling tired. My daughter who is now officially in the terrible 2 stage is draining away my energy. And I'm suppose to do study plans for her and my son that I have put on hold for a while. Then there are tonnes of housework waiting for me ... and I'm still 'wasting' time blogging away. *stick out tongue*

I haven't been making much interesting meal for my son and he is now back to his old eating habits again. Sigh! I know he likes Furikake, so I did some simple rice balls aka onigiri with some Furikake in it, along with some other dishes.

Hmm... will try to manage my time better to squeeze in all the stuff I want to do. Hopefully, he will see more interesting meals soon.

* Diced Chicken with Shimeiji Mushroom *

* Seaweed with Fish Paste and Egg Roll *

Seaweed with Fish Paste and Egg Roll

I did similar dishes before. This very first was a plain Seaweed with Fish Paste Roll. Then I did a variation with Carrots and Spring Onions in the rolls.

This is yet another variation of the previous two. I think this version looks a lot nicer! My daughter loves it because there's egg in it!

Ingredients:

• 1 sheet Nori
• 150g Fish paste
• 1 egg
• Oil for frying
• Plain flour with water Batter (optional)

How to do it:

1. Heat pan with oil.
2. Scramble egg and pour into pan.
3. Swirl the pan to let the egg spread out.
4. Remove egg when it's cooked.
5. Spread fish paste thinly over egg and roll.
6. Set aside.
7. Take a piece of nori and spread fish paste thinly over it.
8. Place the egg on the edge of the nori and roll it.
9. Roll (like sushi) the nori starting from the side with the fish paste.
10. Cut the roll into smaller piece
11. Pan fry the roll till cooked.
12. Alternatively, you can dip the roll into the batter and deep fry till cooked.
13. Cut the roll into smaller pieces and serve.

Watermelon Juice with Strawberry Crushed Ice

There is no school today. It's Teacher-Parent Meet. So after meeting with my son's teacher, we went to the supermarket to waste time. hahaha.

My son saw Strawberries and insist on buying them. He remembered I promised I'll make more Strawberry Sorbert for him. He was sick the last time I made it so he only had 1 serving. I actually had some strawberries frozen already but won't mind more Strawberries. I love them too.

In the end we bought strawberries AND watermelon. The combination of the both is great especially in this weather! My son love it and forgotten all about the Sorbert. Heehe~ I'm going to let my daughter, who hates fruits, try later.

Ingredients:

• Watermelon
• Frozen Strawberries
• Fine Sugar to taste (optional)

How to do it:

1. Blend watermelon first. Do not filter.
2. Add in the frozen strawberries.
3. Blend together till smooth or you can leave small lumps of frozen strawberries for bites.
4. Add some fine sugar and blend again if you find your juice too sour.

Note:

• I add 1 punnet of frozen strawberries to 500ml of watermelon juice.
• If you like more Watermelon taste, add more watermelon or cut down strawberries.
  
  
  

Diced Chicken with Shimeiji Mushroom

Quite sometime back, I saw a picture of this dish (Well, not exactly the same. The original was much nicer!) while flipping through a magazine in a book shop. I do not know how that was done, so I came up with my own version. Hey! It's not too bad!

Ingredients:

• 2 Chicken Drumstick, deboned and diced in bite size cubes
• 1 Bell Pepper (Green would be better for colour), shredded
• A bunch of Shimeiji Mushroom, ends removed
• 5 - 6 Cherry Tomato
• 2 tablespoon Oil for pan frying
• 2 pinch of Salt

Marinade:

• 1 tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
• 1 tablespoon Sesame Seed Oil

How to do it:

1. Marinade chicken for 30 minutes.
2. Heat pan with oil.
3. Add in Shimeiji Mushroom, Bell Pepper and Chicken.
4. Do not mix them together. Saute the vegetables on one side and the Chicken on the other side.
5. When the vegetables are cooked removed and set aside.
6. Continue the Chicken till they are golden brown and cooked.
7. Drain away excess oil from the pan.
8. Now add in tomatoes and return vegetables to the pan.
9. Saute for half a minute.
10. Add in 2 pinch of salt.
11. Mix well.
12. Dish and serve.

Note:

• I cooked the Mushroom and Bell Pepper with the Chicken so the Mushroom can absorb the flavour of Bell Pepper and Chicken. The Chicken too will get the flavour of the Bell Pepper
• I used yellow bell pepper because that was what I found in my fridge. Use Green Bell Pepper for colour.
• For a healthier choice, remove chicken skin.

Pan Baked Chocolate Chips Cookies

Another pan-baked pastry. So far this is my third pan-baked. Did you miss the other 2? This first one was a Sponge Cake and the second one was Muffins. This time round I'm making cookies. Don't expect great looking cookies. You can see from the pictures they ain't good looking. But don't judge the outlook, okay. They taste great.

This is my second attempt. My first attempt was a few years ago and I did a plain butter cookie. After that attempt, I lost the recipe and had finally found it again.

Ingredients:

• 125g Low Gluten Flour, like cake flour, shifted
• 100g Melted Butter
• 70g Fine Sugar
• Chocolate Chips, you desire amount

How to do it:

1. Beat butter and sugar together.
2. Fold in flour till dough like.
3. Add in Chocolate chips and knead in.
4. Separate the dough into small doughs.
5. Flatten the small doughs with your palms.
6. Lay the flatten doughs on the flat pan.
7. Cook for 5 minutes on low fire.
8. Turn in over and cook for another 3 minutes.
9. Remove and cool.

Note:

• Do not crowd the pan because you have have problem turning them over.
• They are still very soft when they are cooking so turn them over carefully and slowly.
• Remove them from pan slowly to otherwise they may break.
• They will harden when they are cooled.
• You can choose not to add Chocolate Chips. Butter cookies are great too!

Sweet and Sour Ribs

This is not the sweet and sour pork (咕噜肉) if you think that what they are. These taste a little bit more sour and is darker in colour because of the use of Black Vinegar. It's a nice change from the usually sweet and sour pork (咕噜肉).


Ingredients:

• 5 pieces of pork ribs (Mine are really meaty. Get more if your are less meaty)
• Oil for frying

Marinade:

• 1 1/2 tablespoon Cornflour
• 1 tablespoon Chinese Cooking Wine
• 1 Egg
• 1 tablespoon Water
• A pinch of salt

Sauce:

• 2 tablespoon Black Vinegar
• 2 1/2 tablespoon Tomato Sauce
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
• 1 1/2 tablespoon Sugar
• 3 tablespoon Water

How to do it:

1. Marinade ribs for at least 3 hours.
2. Deep fry ribs till golden brown.
3. Drain and set aside.
4. Bring sauce to a boil.
5. Add in ribs and coat well.
6. Dish and serve.

Note:

Add 1 tablespoon of chili sauce if you want it a bit spicy.

Pan Baked Maple Syrup and Raisin Muffin

I don't bake because I don't have an oven. I doubt my hubby is planning to get me one too. I have not been successful asking for a sewing machine for years. Asking for an Oven will be more difficult. He find it an eyesore for the oven to sit on the kitchen top. But he did bought me a Muffin Maker.

Anyway, to bake, I have to find other ways and using a non-stick flat pan is a way. The end product may not look as nice but it taste as nice. Oh well! Better than nothing!

Ingredients:

• 125g Low Gluten Flour, like Cake Flour (I'm using Top Flour), shifted
• 1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder, added together to flour to be shifted
• 55g Melted Butter
• 30g Fine Sugar
• 25g Maple syrup
• 1 Large Egg
• 55g Milk
• Some Raisins (optional)

How to do it:

1. Mix butter, sugar and syrup together.
2. Using a mixer, beat well till foam like.
3. Add egg and mix well.
4. Gradually, add in flour to mixture and blend in well.
5. Add in raisins and milk and mix well.
6. Pour mixture into baking cup till 3/4 full.
7. Place cups in the pan and cover.
8. Cook in low fire for 17-20 minutes.
9. Turn of the fire but do not remove till a further 15 minutes.
10. Tada! Non-Bake Muffins done!

Note:

• Pan baked Muffins did not raised as much as how baked muffins do.
• They are not as fluffy too but they do taste as nice

* How my Pan Baked Muffins look like inside*

Meow! What's for dinner?

A litter of kitty cats followed us home today and they are staying for dinner.

I think this is the shortest post I have on my recipe so far. If you can still call this a recipe.

More like a deco suggestion yah. But a litter of cats did tried to follow us home today!

Yakitori

Bet you never guess where I got this recipe from! It's from my son's computer game! My son was playing with the game and he hit the print button and I got this! They have a few other recipes from a few countries too. Interest huh?

The suggestion from the computer game was to do this with our child but I find it too messy. Next time maybe!

Ingredients:

• 2 Chicken Drumstick, deboned
• Spring Onions, (white part) cut to sections

Yakitori Sauce:

• 4 tablespoon Sugar
• 2 tablespoon Lemon Juice
• 2 tablespoon Oil
• 1 clove Garlic, minced
• 3/4 cup Soy Sauce

How to do it:

1. Cut chicken to bite size pieces.
2. Using a skewer, push 3 pieces of chicken and spring onions, alternating.
3. Set aside.
4. In a pot, mix all ingredients for Yakitori Sauce together.
5. Boil until reduced to 2/3 of the original amount.
6. Coat the chicken skewers with the sauce and broil them on a grill.
7. Repeatedly coat the chicken skewers with sauce for 3 more times while cooking.
8. Serve hot.

Note:

I did not use spring onions (can't find thick stalk ones). I used onions and bell pepper instead.

Ps. for those who are curious which computer game I'm talking about ... it's Jump Start - Language

Fish and Chips

I happened to see Snapper Fillet in the supermarket and bought a few slices back. It will be a nice change to have western food from the usual Chinese food we have.

Did I say we are having fish and chips for dinner? But where are the chips, you may ask. Well, they smiling at you. Can you see them?

Ingredients:

• 2 pieces Snapper Fillet
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• a few dash of coarse black pepper
• 1/2 tablespoon Lemon Juice
• 1 Egg
• 1 tablespoon Cornflour
• Breadcrumbs
• Oil for frying

Additional Ingredients:

• 1 Lemon Wedge
• Some Tartar Sauce, Tomato or Chili Sauce
• Some French Fries

How to do it:

1. Mix all ingredients except breadcrumbs and oil.
2. Coat the fillets with breadcrumbs
3. Deep fried till golden brown.
4. Drain and serve with the additional ingredients.

Note:

• For an extra crunchy fillet, you can use replace the egg and cornflour with the batter for tempura then coat with breadcrumbs.
• I added in a Apple and Alfalfa Salad. It's slightly less than half an apple, skinned and cubed. Mixed with 1/2 tablespoon of 1,000 Island Dressing, and lay them on some Alfalfa.
• This sure goes well with a bowl of Cream of Mushroom Soup.

* Mr Chips and friends smiling at you *

* Apple with Alfalfa Salad *

Prawns with Tomato Sauce

I love prawns but I seldom buy prawns because of 3 main reasons. 1st, I prefer tiger prawns and I can hardly get those in our market here. 2nd, the prawns, whether or not they are tiger prawns, are not very fresh. Lastly, it's expensive to buy fresh/live tiger prawns. So dumb! Just excuses not to buy Grass Prawns. LOL

Anyway, I did find tiger prawns in the supermarket near our place. It's not kicking but it will do. I'm not steaming them anyway.

Ingredients:

• 15 medium Prawns, devien
• 1 cup of peas, steamed
• a pinch of salt and pepper
• 1 tablespoon Chinese Cooking Wine
• 1 tablespoon Cornflour
• Oil for frying

Tomato Sauce:

• 4 tablespoon Tomato Sauce
• 1 tablespoon Sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 1 tablespoon Apple Cider or White Vinegar
• 2 tablespoon Broth or Water
• Cornflour mixture (thickener)

How to do it:

1. Mix all ingredients except peas together.
2. Deep fry prawns till golden brown.
3. Set aside.
4. In a wok, pour ingredients for sauce.
5. Mix well and bring to a boil.
6. Add peas.
7. Thicken the sauce with cornflour mixture till desire thickness.
8. Add in prawns and coat well with sauce.
9. Dish and serve.

Note:
Don't take my words so seriously, Grass Prawns works well too. I'm just being difficult. *wink*

Cream of Mushroom 蘑菇浓汤

When I was a teenager, canned soup was one of the things I'm hooked on. To me it was so different from soup that my father and mother made. We were never bought to coffee house so that was the closest I can get to an 'ang moh' (western) food. That was also the only thing other than instant noodle that I could cook. My father wouldn't allow us anywhere near his wok. But my father didn't approved these canned and instant food. He said too much preservatives. Hmm... he still stock up anyway ... for us. *smile*

If you are not too lazy to make your own creamy soup, here's what you need to do ...

Ingredients:

• 100g Fresh Button Mushroom, sliced
• 60g Butter
• 60g Plain Flour
• 100ml Evaporated Milk
• 350ml Bone Broth
• Salt to taste

How to do it:

1. Melt butter in pot while adding flour gradually.
2. Mix well.
3. Gradually pour evaporated milk while stirring.
4. The mixture will become dough-like.
5. Add broth gradually while stirring, until it become creamy.
6. Add in the mushroom and bring to a boil.
7. Add salt to taste.
8. Serve hot.

Alternative - Cream of Chicken:

1. Use 1 chicken breast meat instead of mushroom.
2. Steam Chicken with 1/2 tablespoon Chinese cooking wine.
3. Retain the sauce to be used together with the broth.
4. Use chicken broth instead of bone broth.
5. Cut Chicken into cubes or small pieces to be added to the soup last.

Note:

• If you don't have broth, you can soup stock made using instant stock cubes.
• Don't use water. It will be very bland.
• Add more mushroom if you like.
• If you find the soup to watery, add more evaporated milk.
• You can also both mushroom and chicken to make Cream of Mushroom and Chicken.

Growing Tulips on Rice

This is my first posting on my son's dinner after my long disappearance from the blogsphere, not that I wanted to.

Anyway, I find the tulips very cheery. Can you tell they are tulips? At least they do like like flowers. If you are wondering how I got the quails eggs to be so colourful ... I dye them with food colourings. Just one drop will do the trick. Dilute with water to get a lighter tone.

Other than eggs, Broccoli wrapped with Ham and Tofu and Fish Paste wrapped with Nori were in his dinner plate too.

* A bouquet of Broccoli *

* How the Tofu Samosa looks inside *

Ingredients:

• 1 tube Egg Tofu, smashed
• 100g Fish Paste
• 2 - 3 tablespoon Peas
• Nori, cut into strips for wrapping
• Oil for frying

How to do it:

1. Mix all ingredients except nori together.
2. Scoop some paste and wrap it with nori.
3. See here for instructions or you can wrap it like a spring roll.
4. Pan fry for 3 minutes each on both sides.
5. Dish and serve.

Note:
You can use corn or carrots instead of peas or all 3! Colourful!!

Liver with Ginger and Spring Onions 姜葱猪肝

This is yet another yummy dish my confinement lady cooked for me during confinement.

Simcooks wanted more confinement dishes. So here's another one for her and my many blogging mommy friends who are pregnant. Looks like they all want to have a piglet!

This is one dish that the tip on shredded ginger comes in handy.

Ingredients:

• 400g Pig Liver, sliced
• 3 sprigs Spring Onions, cut in sections
• 5-8 slice Ginger, shredded
• 1 handful Wolfberries

Marinade:

• 1 tablespoon Oyster Sauce
• 1/2 tablespoon Saseme Seed Oil
• 1 tablespoon Chinese Cooking Wine (Like Hua Tiao)

How to do it:

1. Marinade the liver with marinade and set aside for 30 minutes.
2. Soak wolfberries with warm water for 10 minutes or till soften.
3. Drain and set aside.
4. Heat wok with a some sesame seed oil.
5. Saute the ginger and spring onions till fragrant.
6. Add in wolfberries and saute for 10 seconds.
7. Add in the liver and saute till 90% cooked or well done.
8. Dish and serve.

Note:

• You can use brandy or dome instead of Chinese cooking wine if you are having it for confinement.
• Top it with some Fried Ginger Shreds for that extra crunch and flavour.
  

How slice really thin ginger 姜丝

These are fried ginger shreds. Really crunchy! I usually fried some and keep it in an air-tight container. It can be use to top Steamed Fish, Braised Chicken, Noodle or even eat it on its own!

That's what my confinement lady did for me. She fried a container of ginger shred for me as titbits! She is really skilled in cutting it. They are really thin! I can't manage that. So how do I do it since I'm not as skillful? I cheat! Hahaha!

The trick is to use a peeler (hope that what it's call). We normally use it to slice the skin off fruit and vegetables. Yap, I use that! After I get really thin slices of ginger, I chop them into shreds. So much easier then.

Neat trick? Say you learn it here huh! *wink*

* See how think the ginger slices are - translucent! *

* My secret weapon *

Black Chicken with Black Bean Soup 乌鸡黑豆汤

My confinement lady made this soup for me during my confinement. She is a really nice lady from Malaysia. She called me recently when she was in Singapore and made me crave for the confinement food she cooked for me. Since we have all been sick recently. I thought it's a good idea to make this soup - very nourishing!

Ingredients:

• 1 Black Chicken, cut into half
• 100g Black Beans, roasted for a minute on pan without oil
• 10 - 15 Red Dates, pitted
• 2 Slice of Ginger (optional)
• 2 Whole Chicken bones (optional)
• Salt to taste

How to do it:

1. Blanch chicken and chicken bones.
2. Boil a pot of water.
3. Add all ingredients except salt and boil.
4. Lower heat and simmer for 3 to 4 hours.
5. Add salt to taste.

Note:

• I did not add ginger here because my kids didn't like it. But ginger is great to get rid of wind in the body.
• The extra chicken bones makes the soup extra sweet. Since I'm brewing the soup for 3 - 4 hours I didn't use broth but bones instead.
• For a healthier choice, remove chicken skin.

Chocolate Crepe with Banana and Ice Cream

What do you do when you are hungry at night? We eat! This was our late night supper yesterday. Sinful! No wonder my tummy is getting rounder. All the fats have gone there.

Ingredients:

• 60g Top Flour, shifted
• 20g Powder Sugar
• 120g Milk
• 1 Egg
• 10g Butter, melted
• 1 Banana or any other fruits, sliced
• 1 scoop Ice Cream

How to do it:

1. Whisk all ingredients except banana and ice cream till well mixed.
2. Oil the frying pan with little butter.
3. Pour some mixture to the pan and swirl it to cover the whole pan.
4. Cook for about 1 minute then turn over to cook for another 1/2 minute.
5. Remove.
6. Add banana and ice cream.
7. Serve with or without sauce.

Note:

• My crepe is dark brown because I used chocolate milk instead of regular milk.
• Make sure you don't put too much mixture otherwise your crepe will be too thick.

Ladies' Finger with Back Bacon Rolls

I was lazy to come up with ideas to dress up my son's dinner yesterday so he had rice balls in the end.

I wanted him to try eating ladies' finger (it was the veg of the day :p See my other dish). As usual, I cooked it with something he likes. He had Xiao Bai Cai as per his request too.

Ingredients:

• Back Bacon
• Ladies Finger, top removed and blanched
• Oil for frying

How to do it:

1. Saute the back bacon on both sides with a little oil.
2. Wrap the ladies finger with the bacon.
3. Secure with a toothpick.
4. Return to pan to pan fried till slightly brown.
5. Dish and serve.

Note:

• I used Back Bacon instead of Streaky Bacon because it got more meat.
• No seasonings required as Back Bacon is slightly saltish.

Ham with Veggie Spring Roll

This is one of my experiment with food and it turn out rather nice, that is, if you like the vegetables I used. My hubby doesn't like ladies' finger and asked me to find something else to replace it. Hmm ... that calls for another experiment. Hey, but it taste great with the tomato!

Ingredients:

• Spring Roll Skin
• Ham
• Tomato, cut into wedge
• Ladies' Finger, top removed and blanched
• Baby corn, blanched
• Egg for sealing
• Oil for frying

How to do it:

1. Place a slice of ham on the corner of the spring roll.
2. Place tomato, ladies' finger and baby corn on the ham.
3. Wrap like you do a usual spring roll.
4. Dab some egg on the edge of the spring roll to seal it.
5. Deep fry till golden brown.
6. Serve with mayonnaise and chili sauce.